Published in II UNESC Seminar of Medical Humanities

Keywords: Childbirth Assistance, Normal Birth, Social representation, Women's Health.

Abstract: Introduction: Giving birth is a special moment in the women universe, since it brings new feelings in the very essence of being a woman: the act of being a mother is central. Pregnancy and delivery links men’s reproduction aspects as well as women’s, involving their families and the community. Everyone who participates in this experience are enriched by hope and the joy it brings, bringing up feelings that defines a human being. Objective: to learn how vaginal birth seems like to women having their first child, how it affects social characteristics as well as beliefs and values. Methodology: this is a short-term exploratory study with 15 first child mothers regarding qualitative and describing views. The study was done in a maternity hospital in the city of Colatina, Espírito Santo, Brazil. The data was collected through recorded interviews based on a semi-structured script, its variables related to social and demographic differences, approaching their experiences towards vaginal birth. Data was analyzed by the Lerass’ software IRaMuTeQ version 0.6 Apha 3, in which it was possible to achieve content about the interviews, word cloud creation and similarities analysis. Conclusion: Vaginal birth is socially associated with pain, related not only to suffering but also to the idea of overcoming. Another subject to consider is the ignorance towards the procedure. That generates hopes, uncertainties, fears and anxiety. One of the great challenges for shifting the paradigm of vaginal birth is the deconstruction of negative feelings and beliefs, bringing back women’s independency and the joy of giving birth. To give birth is an act that should be one of the greatest experiences of women inside her reality and accordingly to her unique role in what is one of the most important part in the great universe that is human birth.